“Sveriges kyrkohistoria” is an 8-volume series in Swedish about Swedish
church history. Volume 2, subtitled “Hög- och senmedeltid”, covers the period
from 1248 to 1523. In other words, the High and Late Middle Ages, from the
Council of Skänninge to the Protestant Reformation. This was the period when
the Catholic Church consolidated itself in Sweden and became a powerful player
in society, often in close alliance with the nobility.
The Council of Skänninge, which took place in 1248, marks the beginning
of this process. Nominally a local church council, it was actually a meeting at
which the Church negotiated with the worldly leaders, most notably Birger jarl,
the effective ruler of Sweden at this time (a jarl was a “prime minister”, but
Birger jarl was more powerful than the king). The clerical delegation was
headed by William of Sabina, the papal legate who had arrived in Sweden to
reorganize the Church province. At the time, canon law was almost never
followed in far-away Sweden, indeed, it might not even have been widely known. Priests
were not celibate, their sons inherited Church property, and very often a
priest would be succeeded by one of his sons, making the priesthood de facto
hereditary. Tithes paid to the local churches were often sequestered by the
nobility, since the nobles usually financed the building of churches and hence
demanded compensation. On all of these points, William demanded swift changes.
Due to Sweden´s relative isolation and decentralization (despite attempts by
Birger jarl and later rulers to centralize the polity), the reforms codified at
Skänninge were difficult to implement. The Church never fully implemented canon
law, instead following the church statutes in the regional secular law codes.
Despite frequent national synods, the Church remained decentralized throughout
the Middle Ages, with different liturgies in different dioceses. Another
anomaly – this time one which the papacy upheld – was that the Swedish archbishop
in Uppsala was subordinated to the archbishop of Lund. This could be a problem
since Lund was on Danish territory, Sweden and Denmark frequently being enemy nations.
As already mentioned, the Church leadership had close connections with
the nobility, including family ties. The archbishop was the first in rank in
the king´s governing council, and all bishops belonged to both the council and
the broader “herredag” (a kind of quasi-parliament). The coronation of the king
was seen as a religious act. He was “king by the grace of God” and the
coronation outfit looked like that of a deacon. Monasteries and convents
gradually became more aristocratic in character. This is most obvious in the
case of the Vadstena Abbey, the mother house of the Bridgettine order, which
eventually became the largest landowner in Sweden! The seats of the bishops
were often built like defensive castles. During the 15th century,
the bishops were active participants in the internal power struggles, often
with their own private armies. It´s also interesting to note that the Stockholm
bloodbath, Danish king Christian II´s violent purge of his Swedish opponents, was
nominally the result of a heresy trial!
“Sveriges kyrkohistoria” also contain chapters on the Northern crusades
and various missionary activities. A 14th century Sami (Lap)
prophetess named Margareta was a missionary among her own co-ethnics, with the
blessings of the Church hierarchy. Naturally, an entire chapter is devoted to
Birgitta Birgersdotter (Saint Bridget), her daughter Katarina Ulfsdotter (Saint
Catherine) and the monastic order they founded at Vadstena. Bridget´s supposed
divine revelations fill several volumes, in which she frequently criticized
both the clergy, the nobility and the Swedish king Magnus Eriksson for sinful
living. Bridget carried out pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostella and
Jerusalem, tried to negotiate a peace between England and France during the
Hundred Years´ War, and eventually settled in Rome, demanding that the papacy return
there from its “Babylonian captivity” in Avignon. Bridget was officially
canonized by the Catholic Church after her death, and is today regarded as one
of the “patron saints of Europe”.
The book also contains interesting information on local Church life. It
seems that the most prosperous peasants in a given locality had a certain influence
over Church affairs through the “sockenstämma”, which elected the priest and
controlled the economy of the parish together with him. The medieval mass was
very different from the modern Catholic mass, but also from the Tridentine mass
supported by Catholic traditionalists. Very often, only the priest and his
closest attendant participated, the mass was celebrated in near-darkness, and a
barrier in front of the altar made it almost impossible for any congregants to
actually see what was going on! The whole thing reminds me of a mystery temple.
Of course, the mass was in Latin. “Sveriges kyrkohistoria” mentions some really
weird facts. Or weird to me in 2020. Statues of Christ or the saints were often
stolen from the churches, Mary was sometimes depicted with bare breasts, and
one of the venerated saints was a fictitious character. Among her many names
are Saint Kakukylla and Saint Kakikatna. She was invoked against rats!
Although the book sometimes gets too tedious (the description of the 15th
century power struggles is perhaps a bit too detailed), nevertheless overall
recommended if (modern) Swedish is your first language.
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